Did U.S. and Russian Troops Fight Their Bloodiest Battle Since WWI in February?

By Sebastien Roblin,The National Interest

In a violent battle near the Syrian city of Dier ez-Zor the night of February 7–8, U.S. commandos did not suffer any casualties, and only one allied SDF fighter was injured. However, the United States estimated that it had killed at least 20 percent of the attacking force, with casualties numbering between 100 and 300. There is relatively little video or photo documentation of the battle, save for videos of two air strikes, and of Syrian militias recovering bodies after the battle. The Pentagon later alleged the attackers were primarily Wagner mercenaries.

Damascus announced it forces had suffered fifty-five killed, including ten Russians, one Brig. Gen. Yusuf Aisha Haider, both sons of Sheikh al-Bashir of the Baqir Brigade, and 20–30 members of the ISIS Hunters unit [3], including Lt. Col Yasser Essa. Damascus’s incredible excuse for the attack was to claim its forces had been investigating ISIS mortar fire from the east river bank when they came under unprovoked fire from the U.S. position. In April, survivors of the ISIS Hunters unit held a ceremony declaring jihad on U.S. forces in Syria.

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It was clear that some Russian mercenaries were amongst the fallen. An airport employee reported seeing two Toyota trucks full of their corpses being delivered to the airport. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova initially claimed only five Russian dead. However, at least five recordings with members of the Russian mercenary community claimed severalhundredRussian PMC casualties [7], causing a political firestorm just prior to Russian presidential elections. One mercenary was recorded saying “one squadron f— lost 200 people … right away, another one lost 10 people … and I don’t know about the third squadron, but it got torn up pretty badly, too.” A journalist reporting on the controversy latermysteriously ‘fell to his death’ [8] from his apartment.

Due to the Moscow’s habitual dishonesty regarding casualties, the higher loss claims were accepted by several Western news outlets. As Der Spiegel’s Christophe Reuter wryly observed in an investigative article [9]: “It has generally been the case, after all, that when something in the Syrian war is denied by the Kremlin, or when the Russians admit to it bit by bit, then it is probably accurate.”